The last of our tournaments in the Winter 2025 postseason cycle is the 2nd Jeopardy Invitational Tournament, bringing back many past greats to compete for a spot in Jeopardy! Masters. These 27 players have returned to compete over the next three weeks (plus or minus one episode).
Each player’s overall odds to win the tournament (in American odds format), as well as the chances each player has to win in the quarterfinals, are as per the Unified Prediction Model, recently unveiled here at The Jeopardy! Fan.
Monday, February 17, 2025:
|
Matt Amodio (+1000) New York, New York  1618 correct, 191 incorrect 65/78 on rebound attempts (on 176 rebound opportunities) 46.73% in first on buzzer (1563/3345) 94/109 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $358,400) 40/58 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $21,936 Adjusted Performance Mean: 16,992 Performance Variance: 20,090 As one of the “Masters” coming back down to JIT, Matt is one of the favorites—and that potentially puts a target on his back in this one. If he can keep the Daily Doubles out of his opponents’ hands, though, he should be able to advance. |
|
Hannah Wilson (+2700) Chicago, Illinois  259 correct, 24 incorrect 14/18 on rebound attempts (on 43 rebound opportunities) 41.93% in first on buzzer (239/570) 13/16 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $36,300) 8/10 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $19,280 Adjusted Performance Mean: 13,671 Performance Variance: 14,789 One thing that Hannah has in common with one of the Masters field: love for knitting (much like Victoria Groce). In fact, Hannah has opened a yarn store. Hannah’s past experience against a player of Matt’s calibre, though—when Ben Chan returned—ended very well for Ben. |
|
Doug Molitor (+4700) Altadena, California  174 correct, 41 incorrect 12/14 on rebound attempts (on 33 rebound opportunities) 40.68% in first on buzzer (179/440) 8/14 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,000) 5/7 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $12,950 (The above stats have been adjusted for the doubling of dollar values when necessary.) Adjusted Performance Mean: 10,607 Performance Variance: 16,436 Doug got an invitation here due to both his performance on the Trebek version in addition to his appearance on the Fleming version. In Doug’s case, he appeared on The All-New Jeopardy!, the revival version hosted by Art Fleming in the late 1970s—which also gave away a lot more money to its contestants than the original version did. While the prediction model isn’t big on Doug’s chances, it does give him a puncher’s chance against the more recent winners. |
The Prediction Model Says: Matt 43.352%, Hannah 31.156%, Doug 25.492%.
Tuesday, February 18, 2025:
|
Skyler Hornback (+2500) Sonora, Kentucky  30 correct, 2 incorrect 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities) 47.37% in first on buzzer (27/57) 2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $12,000) 1/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $26,200 Adjusted Performance Mean: 10,926 Performance Variance: 22,077 Skyler set a Kids Week record back in 2013 when he won $66,600. Obviously, the prediction model only has one game’s worth to go on—absolutely anything could happen here with Skyler’s performance. |
|
Margaret Shelton (+4900) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  121 correct, 18 incorrect 14/14 on rebound attempts (on 36 rebound opportunities) 34.44% in first on buzzer (114/331) 4/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $12,100) 4/6 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,500 Adjusted Performance Mean: 11,004 Performance Variance: 14,074 Margaret “Regular Virginia” Shelton made a heartbreaking exit from the 2022 Tournament of Champions in the quarterfinals. I think she has a relatively good chance at redemption, even though the prediction model does have her third. |
|
Jaskaran Singh (+1900) Plano, Texas  115 correct, 19 incorrect 4/5 on rebound attempts (on 17 rebound opportunities) 40.35% in first on buzzer (115/285) 7/9 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $21,400) 5/5 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $19,320 Adjusted Performance Mean: 14,212 Performance Variance: 17,598 Jaskaran’s strong play on Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy means he rates well with the prediction model. If that continues, you could absolutely see him make a run. |
The Prediction Model Says: Jaskaran 38.223%, Skyler 34.150%, Margaret 27.627%.
Wednesday, February 19, 2025:
|
Emily Sands (+3000) Chanhassen, Minnesota  225 correct, 38 incorrect 10/15 on rebound attempts (on 39 rebound opportunities) 38.87% in first on buzzer (220/566) 14/18 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $40,600) 6/10 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,140 Adjusted Performance Mean: 12,701 Performance Variance: 14,554 Emily returns to the Alex Trebek Stage after being the only woman to make the semifinals of the 31st Tournament of Champions. She’s got a reasonable chance of making it to the semifinals again against Rachael and Jonathan. |
|
Rachael Schwartz (+2900) Berkeley, California  254 correct, 29 incorrect 24/26 on rebound attempts (on 65 rebound opportunities) 30.94% in first on buzzer (228/737) 10/16 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $9,200) 8/13 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,415 (The above stats have been adjusted for the doubling of dollar values when necessary.) Adjusted Performance Mean: 13,187 Performance Variance: 13,177 Back in 1994, Rachael bested one of the most stacked Tournament of Champions fields in history when she became the first woman to win the ToC. She hasn’t played since Battle of the Decades in 2014, but she did make it to the quarterfinals of that event. |
|
Jonathan Fisher (+4000) Coral Gables, Florida  331 correct, 41 incorrect 12/14 on rebound attempts (on 46 rebound opportunities) 44.31% in first on buzzer (327/738) 12/18 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $12,400) 8/13 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $20,138 Adjusted Performance Mean: 11,837 Performance Variance: 14,154 Jonathan may have exited the 30th tournament of Champions early, but he did lead Andrew He going into Final Jeopardy in that quarterfinal. I suspect this will be a very closely-contested match between all three players. |
The Prediction Model Says: Rachael 34.949%, Emily 33.938%, Jonathan 31.113%.
My friends over at Geeks Who Drink have introduced a daily trivia game—Thrice! Existing to make daily clever trivia content accessible to a wide audience, it's a daily challenge that tries to get you to the answer via three separate clues. It has a shareable score functionality to challenge your friends and new questions every day will give you a new daily social ritual. You can find it at thricegame.com.
Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my Betting Strategy 101 page. If you want to learn how to bet in two-day finals, check out Betting Strategy 102. In case the show uses a tournament with wild cards in the future, there is also a strategy page for betting in tournament quarterfinals.
Are you looking for information on how to stream Jeopardy! in 2024? Find out information here on how to stream from most places in North America!
Do you appreciate the work I do here on The Jeopardy! Fan? Would you like to make a one-time contribution to the site? You may do so here!
You can find game-by-game stats here at The Jeopardy! Fan of all 17 players, now including Adriana Harmeyer, that have won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!
You can now listen to Alex Trebek-hosted Jeopardy! episodes from TuneIn Radio without leaving The Jeopardy! Fan — listen now!
Thursday, February 20, 2025:
|
Raymond Goslow (+4000) Marietta, Georgia  91 correct, 14 incorrect 5/7 on rebound attempts (on 19 rebound opportunities) 39.04% in first on buzzer (89/228) 4/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $12,600) 3/4 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $16,900 Adjusted Performance Mean: 11,850 Performance Variance: 15,897 Raymond was having a great College tournament in 2022—until Jaskaran found all six Daily Doubles in the two-game final. The draw has done him no favors in this event, though. |
|
Troy Meyer (+820) Cleveland, Ohio  372 correct, 33 incorrect 22/25 on rebound attempts (on 46 rebound opportunities) 40.05% in first on buzzer (342/854) 21/23 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $108,200) 9/15 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $21,493 Adjusted Performance Mean: 19,058 Performance Variance: 17,982 Troy is the favorite in this event, with an Adjusted Performance Mean much stronger than the rest of the field. Of course, there’s a lot of variance at this level—I think a lot of fans are hoping that Troy can overcome that variance this time out and qualify for Masters. If there’s one weakness in Troy’s game, though, it might be Final Jeopardy, where he’s only 9-for-15. |
|
Jackie Kelly (+3500) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  121 correct, 11 incorrect 13/13 on rebound attempts (on 38 rebound opportunities) 31.34% in first on buzzer (105/335) 6/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $20,200) 3/6 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $17,967 Adjusted Performance Mean: 12,929 Performance Variance: 14,407 Jackie put up the best Coryat in her Tournament of Champions quarterfinal against Jaskaran Singh and Eric Ahasic, so there is the potential for an upset here. |
The Prediction Model Says: Troy 46.854%, Jackie 27.021%, Raymond 26.125%.
Friday, February 21, 2025:
|
Maya Wright (+8700) Atlanta, Georgia  150 correct, 16 incorrect 11/13 on rebound attempts (on 32 rebound opportunities) 30.75% in first on buzzer (139/452) 6/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,800) 5/8 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $12,600 Adjusted Performance Mean: 9,612 Performance Variance: 12,474 Maya reached a pair of finals in her previous two appearances but was never able to take a title. Unfortunately, being drawn against Roger Craig and John Focht has done her zero favors in this event. |
|
Roger Craig (+1400) Arlington, Virginia  436 correct, 77 incorrect 18/22 on rebound attempts (on 51 rebound opportunities) 46.04% in first on buzzer (447/971) 25/28 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $117,000) 8/16 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $17,926 Adjusted Performance Mean: 14,574 Performance Variance: 22,436 Roger held the one-day record for nearly a decade, living (and dying) by the Daily Double. If he can find them, he’s got a very good chance of making a deep run. Finding them against John, though, might be a tall order. |
|
John Focht (+2000) El Paso, Texas  156 correct, 14 incorrect 7/9 on rebound attempts (on 19 rebound opportunities) 36.09% in first on buzzer (144/399) 9/10 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $31,300) 4/7 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $18,200 Adjusted Performance Mean: 14,291 Performance Variance: 16,465 Since his initial run on the show, John has started J!ometry, a Jeopardy!-related analytics site—which makes it all the more interesting that he’s been paired against the previous generation’s analytics king in Roger Craig. |
The Prediction Model Says: Roger 41.157%, John 36.848%, Maya 21.995%.
Monday, February 24, 2025:
|
Avi Gupta (+9300) Portland, Oregon  130 correct, 14 incorrect 8/8 on rebound attempts (on 17 rebound opportunities) 36.73% in first on buzzer (126/343) 4/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $16,400) 5/6 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $13,900 Adjusted Performance Mean: 9,936 Performance Variance: 12,172 Avi won a Teen Tournament, made the semifinals of High School Reunion, and has found himself paired against Amy Schneider and Luigi de Guzman, a draw which has not done him any favors whatsoever. |
|
Amy Schneider (+1200) Oakland, California  1816 correct, 140 incorrect 90/110 on rebound attempts (on 268 rebound opportunities) 42.26% in first on buzzer (1682/3980) 80/95 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $257,800) 46/69 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $20,557 Adjusted Performance Mean: 16,472 Performance Variance: 17,426 Amy is the other player coming down from Masters in this year’s field, and I suspect that Luigi will give her quite a challenge in the quarterfinals. If she makes it through, I could definitely see her making the final again. |
|
Luigi de Guzman (+1800) Arlington, Virginia  205 correct, 30 incorrect 11/14 on rebound attempts (on 34 rebound opportunities) 44.03% in first on buzzer (199/452) 12/14 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $41,600) 6/8 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $19,375 Adjusted Performance Mean: 14,701 Performance Variance: 17,375 I think Luigi’s regular play performance has left him underrated as a player by many fans. I would say that he is a very scary draw for Amy in the quarterfinals. Luigi is a very strong player, and it would not surprise me if he made a run in this event. |
The Prediction Model Says: Amy 42.173%, Luigi 37.167%, Avi 20.660%.
We have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Here are our current featured items, including our new Masters Season 3 Player List T-shirt:
Tuesday, February 25, 2025:
|
Ray Lalonde (+3600) Toronto, Ontario, Canada  372 correct, 43 incorrect 26/29 on rebound attempts (on 53 rebound opportunities) 41.05% in first on buzzer (351/855) 16/20 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $36,800) 13/15 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $19,547 Adjusted Performance Mean: 12,501 Performance Variance: 12,662 Ray is the first of two Canadian hopefuls in this event, having picked up 13 wins before being bounced in the quarterfinals of the ToC by Ike Barinholtz. I’m expecting that he’ll make this an even and competitive quarterfinal. |
|
Robin Carroll (+2200) Atlanta, Georgia  383 correct, 67 incorrect 29/37 on rebound attempts (on 72 rebound opportunities) 40.64% in first on buzzer (369/908) 23/28 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $44,400) 9/16 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $16,900 (The above stats have been adjusted for the doubling of dollar values when necessary.) Adjusted Performance Mean: 13,521 Performance Variance: 15,312 Robin picked up five wins via runaway before winning the 2000 Tournament of Champions and 2001 International Championship. She’s had a long and storied career, and I expect that she’ll still be competitive in this event. |
|
Ryan Long (+6600) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  419 correct, 70 incorrect 13/21 on rebound attempts (on 58 rebound opportunities) 41.86% in first on buzzer (427/1020) 14/23 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $21,000) 9/18 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $16,200 Adjusted Performance Mean: 9,706 Performance Variance: 13,936 The last of Season 38’s superchampions, Ryan picked up 16 victories. He doesn’t have a lot of games against higher-level opposition, though, which has hurt his numbers in the prediction model a little bit. |
The Prediction Model Says: Robin 39.229%, Ray 33.632%, Ryan 27.139%.
Wednesday, February 26, 2025:
|
Ben Chan (+1100) Green Bay, Wisconsin  431 correct, 40 incorrect 17/23 on rebound attempts (on 62 rebound opportunities) 38.81% in first on buzzer (397/1023) 24/32 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $42,005) 14/18 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $18,578 Adjusted Performance Mean: 16,367 Performance Variance: 17,393 All of Ben’s first nine victories were via runaway; the Unified Prediction Model thinks that Ben is the fourth-best player in the field. A lot of people are hoping that Ben lives up to—or does better than—that ranking. |
|
Claire Sattler (+13000) New York, New York  112 correct, 19 incorrect 8/9 on rebound attempts (on 25 rebound opportunities) 32.25% in first on buzzer (109/338) 5/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,000) 4/6 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,033 Adjusted Performance Mean: 8,813 Performance Variance: 11,469 Claire won the 2018 Teen Tournament, but has been given an incredibly difficult draw in this event against two fearsome opponents in Ben and Shane. Her long odds are, quite frankly, a direct result of this nightmare of a draw. |
|
Shane Whitlock (+2300) Benton, Arkansas  222 correct, 19 incorrect 10/12 on rebound attempts (on 38 rebound opportunities) 35.44% in first on buzzer (202/570) 15/17 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $36,800) 6/10 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $18,200 (The above stats have been adjusted for the doubling of dollar values when necessary.) Adjusted Performance Mean: 14,488 Performance Variance: 12,802 Shane, the 1996 College Champion, nearly made the finals of the incredibly strong 1996 Tournament of Champions and made the quarterfinals of the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions. He is still a very strong quizzer and can absolutely give Ben a run for his money—and could easily pull off an upset in this match. |
The Prediction Model Says: Ben 45.269%, Shane 36.053%, Claire 18.678%.
Thursday, February 27, 2025:
|
Seth Wilson (+4500) Oak Park, Illinois  346 correct, 38 incorrect 18/20 on rebound attempts (on 59 rebound opportunities) 39.30% in first on buzzer (327/832) 15/23 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $13,800) 9/14 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $17,000 Adjusted Performance Mean: 11,439 Performance Variance: 12,842 Seth picked up a dozen wins in the fall of 2016 before bowing out in the quarters of the 2017 Tournament of Champions. He had some good moments in that ToC, though—I think he’ll be a tough out. |
|
Jackson Jones (+6800) Louisville, Kentucky  141 correct, 26 incorrect 6/8 on rebound attempts (on 19 rebound opportunities) 41.69% in first on buzzer (143/343) 7/10 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,200) 4/6 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $16,767 Adjusted Performance Mean: 10,329 Performance Variance: 12,203 While he didn’t win either of his past tournament appearances, Jackson was a very strong player in both of them, only losing back in 2019 on a semifinal tiebreaker to Avi Gupta. He has a reasonable chance of advancing in this event as well. |
|
Juveria Zaheer (+1900) Whitby, Ontario, Canada  225 correct, 35 incorrect 10/11 on rebound attempts (on 29 rebound opportunities) 44.05% in first on buzzer (226/513) 12/14 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $81,600) 4/9 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $18,622 Canada’s hopes in this event may rest upon the Newfoundland native now living just outside of Toronto. The prediction model does like Juveria’s chances, though—she is both a very strong player and a very inspirational one. |
The Prediction Model Says: Juveria 41.526%, Seth 31.197%, Jackson 27.277%.
Become a Supporter now! Make a monthly contribution to the site on Patreon!
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
When commenting, please note that all comments on The Jeopardy! Fan must be in compliance with the Site Comment Policy.
If you are going to quote any information from this page or this website, attribution is required.
Have you had a chance to listen to our podcast game show, Complete The List, yet? Check it out! It's also available on Apple Podcasts.
Unlike the last JIT, I wasn’t in the audience for the semifinals, so I can actually make predictions for this one… and make predictions I will!
Quarterfinal #1: Matt – Considering his incredible success in regular play, I’d argue that Matt might actually be slightly underrated going into the tournament, given his struggles in the most recent Masters. But 38 wins and $1,518,601 – which works out to a smidge under $40K a win – aren’t numbers you can simply fluke to with nothing to back it up. I do expect Hannah to be very competitive, even if she doesn’t end up winning; while Doug’s numbers (at least buzzer-wise) are much better than I was expecting, the 31-year layoff (which I believe is the longest for any living player who eventually got to play again) probably isn’t looking to do him any favors. I do believe he’ll be competitive, but winning against these two might be a tall order.
Quarterfinal #2: Jaskaran – For those wondering my methodology for this one, it’s incredibly simple. I put all three names on a wheel, spun the wheel, and went with whatever it landed on. Jokes aside, the presence of Skyler makes this game pretty much just one giant question mark – while Skyler’s raw numbers (especially average Coryat) are near the highest in the field in all areas, comparing Kids Week to the JIT is pretty similar to comparing Little League to MLB. (I think. I don’t know much about sports – I only started making flashcards a few days ago.) This is definitely the most even matchup of all of them, if not the most intriguing.
Quarterfinal #3: Emily – While ignoring the fact that someone with an average Coryat north of $20,000 is ranked third-likeliest to win the match, with similar players such as these, the odds of the game not being a race to the Daily Doubles work out to about 0% – and it’s for that exact reason that I consider Emily the favorite for this match. If Daily Doubles didn’t exist, this would probably be one of the most favorable matches that Jonathan could’ve gotten – but they do.
Quarterfinal #4: Troy – I don’t think I need to say anything more here. Raymond and Jackie are awesome, but against a player of Troy’s caliber… yeah.
Quarterfinal #5: Roger – If both players were at 100%, I would definitely see a match between Roger and John being one of the greatest two-player battles of all time. However, with him having undergone chemotherapy for several months a relatively short time before this tournament, there’s simply no telling what % John’s going to be at. Regardless, though, I’m very excited for this matchup, and the analytics-based and data-driven approach of Roger and John make them perfect fits for this competition with how the game is played nowadays. (And given the events of the last five months relating to one of my closest friends – who, thankfully, is mostly okay now – I’m very happy to see John doing well. 🙂)
Quarterfinal #6: Amy – I would like to say that this was a favorable match for her, but I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. If there’s anything Luigi knows how to do well, it’s taking over a game of Jeopardy – so much so that I think this is the most likely match to produce a major upset. Avi got a very bad draw here. (Though, to be fair, that could probably be said for most of the Kids/Teen contestants in this tournament!)
Quarterfinal #7: Robin – As much as I think both Ray and Ryan are awesome, there’s a reason Robin was able to do as well as she did in past tournaments. (She even held the record for highest cumulative winnings on the syndicated show for over a year… that was, of course, until this guy named Brad Rutter came along and completely obliterated her total!) I could definitely see Ray’s exceptional record in Final Jeopardy coming through to bail him out, and I could also see Ryan’s quite unorthodox strategies bailing him out – but just going off of overall play, I have to consider Robin the favorite.
Quarterfinal #8: Ben – There’s no denying that Shane has a very strong quizzing pedigree outside of Jeopardy (even placing seventh in a recent World Quizzing Championship), but how well will that hold up against Jeopardy’s formula, and even more so, against modern-day players? Shane’s last appearance was in 2014, still a few years before James Holzhauer’s strategies became mainstream. If Shane is able to master those strategies, he could very well be the favorite, but I chose Ben just based off of his having already mastered those strategies. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either of them with a dominant runaway, though!
Quarterfinal #9: Juveria – Aside from her being the sentimental favorite, I would not be shocked at all to see her making an extremely deep run in the tournament. Seth and Jackson definitely got a rather unfortunate draw, especially with each of their more conservative tendencies – tendencies that won’t work well against Juveria (whose average net gain on Daily Doubles, at least when discounting Skyler, is the highest in the entire field). More than anything, though, I’m just ecstatic to see her get another chance to play. 🙂
This tournament is gonna be so much fun!!!
Andy and MasterDoge!
Thanks so much for your previews.
MasterDoge – glad to hear your close friend is doing better.
I’m looking forward to the start of the 2nd JIT tonight at 7 p.m. Pacific time! 🙂